Back To Basics
by SparklingSilverStars
Summary: There are two sides to a story, even a love story. Enter the world of James Potter and Lily Evans, where everything, from tempestuousness to actions involving amusement happens as per usual. The story begins after their O.W.L.s at Hogwarts.
1. Dumbstruck By Drama

Chapter 1: Dumbstruck by Drama

A girl wearing a fluffy peach bathrobe paced about her dorm with her hair wrapped in a towel. Her forehead was filled with nervous lines, she was clearly anxious about her very first date whilst her fair-haired friend sat cross-legged on her bed with a magazine on her knees. "Please help me, Mary. I think I'm going to faint in just a matter of minutes because, one, I have nothing to wear and two, my hair is in a mess," she then let out a groan to top off her damsel in distress drama.

Her friend finally put down her magazine and gazed at her from top to toe. "Fine. I shall help you, but do me a favour and subscribe the Rolling Stones magazine for me next year. Thanks, Lily Ann," Mary Macdonald gave Lily a smile before she went to fumble their trunks to look for an outfit for her friend, Lily Evans.

"Did you really have to add in 'Ann' at that moment? Fortunately, my nerves are frazzled and I still need your improvisation, so you are temporarily off the hook," replied Lily miserably. She lay sprawled on her bed, inhaling the smell of the freshly-laundered linen. Her eyes were shut tightly, darkness enveloped her vision as she wished very hard for her very own Cinderella moment. Just as she was picturing one of her wild fantasies compiled from the memories of the many books she read, Mary Macdonald stood in front of her with a smug look on her face. Not only had Mary managed to keep Lily's eyelids open with the fingers of her left hand, but she also had an outfit complete with shoes and accessories balanced on her other hand. "That is simply amazing. And I thought that Alice was the only one who could perform circus tricks," said Lily as she removed her friend's hand from her eyelids and continued gazing at her in awe.

"Speaking of Alice, where is she?" queried Mary as she searched blindly for Lily's right shoe. "Alice is tutoring the first-year student which Professor McGonagall assigned to her. She was so busy chatting to me that she accidently transfigured her cup into a pile of gook. The wonderful ceramic gook fell on the floor, thus causing our dear professor to get her shoe stuck in it. Poor Miss Prewett earned a week of detention and a complimentary week of tutoring thereafter. The end," Lily bowed after she finished her mad tale which she had acted out in a thespian manner.

"Have you considered a career in storytelling? I'm sure that you would excel in it. Considering that you are such a dramatist, perhaps there might be an opening for an amateur actress during the holiday break, you really should join the theater then," commented Mary nonchalantly. "How amusing, Mary. Do be a dear and please pass me that outfit now," she said in an elegant lady's fashion with her hand waving softly above her eyebrow. "I seriously think that you should consider acting," exclaimed Mary as she passed Lily the outfit which she had carefully picked out. After Lily changed, she looked completely different from her previous robe and towel appearance. She was wearing a fun-looking green and white sundress with white wedges to complete her oufit. "Oh right, throw this on if you feel cold, but I doubt so since you are bound to be cuddled," Mary tossed Lily an off-white cardigan belonging to one of their roommates. The trio which consisted of Lily, Mary and Alice shared the same dorm with three other girls, Emmeline Vance, Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadows, they were friendly dorm-mates and the trio occasionally hung out with them. Every so often, the six girls would borrow clothes and shoes from each other to create the perfect outfit.

After Mary had put on a few finishing touches for Lily, she led Lily to a full-length mirror. Lily gazed at her reflection in wonder, her frizzy hair was now a straight, red mane and her emerald-green eyes were accentuated by light green eye-shadow. Lily's eyes lit up immediately, she thanked Mary repeatedly and gave her a tight hug before prancing around the room with joy. In her mind, she was a beautiful green fairy just like Tinkerbell, complete with a pleasant leaf-green glow surrounding her. "Once again, thank you so much, Mary. Hopefully Matthew will find me just as charming," said Lily before she let out a dramatic sigh.

"Oh please, if he doesn't think that you look great, he would be out of his mind. So don't you worry," Mary gave Lily an assuring smile. It was her best friend, Lily's first date, the perfect date which Lily had fantasized to start with a heart-to-heart conversation and end with leg-lifting kisses. Mary gave Lily her last inspection, giving her two thumbs-up before leading her out of the dorm. Out in the common room, Lily and Mary waved at Alice who had just entered through the portrait hole looking weary and grumpy. Alice's gloomy face immediately lit up once she saw two of her best friends, she tossed her books onto a desk and rushed to stare at Lily's transformation. "Goodness gracious, this has to be the best piece of work you have ever done, Mary! Congratulations, I'm so proud of you," she said after having her own awestruck moment. "Now, if you would excuse me, I have a date to go on," Lily interrupted with a wink. She slung her favourite olive-green handbag over her shoulders and went through the portrait hole to meet her date.

Matthew Simmons could be easily described as a tall, dark and handsome teenager. His looks had earned him many hearts of Hogwarts' girls, but his personal rule to date only twice a year made even more fawn over him. He also had an adorable smile which graced his features very well. Rita Skeeter, the junior editor of the school's monthly magazine had posted the results of a recent poll in the magazine's January issue. The poll showed that he was the third handsomest of Hogwarts after James Potter and Sirius Black. Remus Lupin had came in at a close fourth, barely missing the third position by three votes. As Lily came out of the Gryffindor common room, Matthew was amazed by her pretty appearance. He gave her his widest smile before extending his hand to hold hers and he then produced a bouquet of flowers for her. Whilst the bouquet's sweet fragrance lingered in the air, a blush crept onto Lily's face as Matthew complimented her. They walked around the blue lake hand in hand, speaking to each other about themselves and their lives. "You truly are beautiful tonight," said Matthew when they decided to sit on the lush, green grass under a shady tree.

Unfortunately, Lily did not reply, for Matthew's voice was merely a murmur, her attention was drawn to the magnificent scenery surrounding them. Lily's pupils traced after the sun's gleam, it led her into discovering a spectacular sunset. In her mind, she wondered how nature managed create such a perfect blend of colours. A fusion of orange and golden-yellow trailed along soft reds, the bright blue which once settled among the fluffy, white clouds was gone and had only left traces of lilac in its wake. Grapefruit pink clouds filled the sky and the bright, orange sun was setting slowly down the hill. As soon as the sun was hidden beneath the evening sky, Lily was pulled back from her wandering thoughts to reality.

Matthew had been so considerate as to let her gaze at the panorama for nearly an hour instead of engaging her into an eye-gazing moment with him. "I'm so sorry, Matthew," she apologized to him sincerely. "It's just that I get carried away very fast, would you forgive me if I promise you another date next week?" she gushed out in high hopes to make him feel better.

He took a moment before answering her, "Sure, not at all. But just before I send you back to your common room, do you mind sharing a chocolate bar with me?" He fished for the chocolate bar from within his coat's inner pocket and broke half of it for Lily. As Lily chewed on the tasty caramel-based chocolate, she gave Matthew another smile. When Matthew caught her eyes, her green orbs reverted to peer at the ground. "Thanks for the evening. You were really great and all," she told him while blushing furiously in the shadows. "Same to you. As a matter of fact, you, Lily Evans, are without a doubt a nice girl with a unique personality to match," he remarked kindly before putting his hand around her shoulders, enclosing her into a warm cuddle.

When Matthew walked her back to the Gryffindor common room, she thanked him once again and gave him a peck on his cheek before hurrying into the portrait hole, causing her to bump into James Potter. Before he could say anything, she apologized to him quickly and rushed up to the girls' dormitories to give a full report to her best friends.

* * *

"I'm..." James Potter had wanted to apologize to Lily but she had dashed up the girls' staircase in a flash, leaving him to be dumbstruck and stay glued to his spot until his best friend, Sirius Black, snapped him to reality. "Prongs, let's go meet Moony in the kitchens. I checked him up on the map, he just finished studying a while ago." Without waiting for an answer from his best friend who was still in a mild shock, Sirius rolled his eyes before dragging him to the Hogwarts kitchens.

As the duo entered the kitchens, a house elf happily ran forward to greet them. The house elf had a green apron against her patched overalls and there was a frayed, pink bow on her head. "Good evening, sirs. What would Mr. Potter and Mr. Black want Alphie to do today?" she asked with a smile plastered on her face. "Hi, Alphie. Have you by any chance seen Remus in here?" inquired Sirius while dragging James behind him. "Mr. Lupin is over there. Alphie will bring over some hot chocolate and cookies for sirs in a while," she pointed towards a plush, red couch in a corner.

"Remmie Lu!" screeched Sirius in a high voice, he was clearly trying to impersonate a girl but the squeal had came out sounding awfully like a crow. James who had foreseen the outcome of Sirius' actions earlier removed the cotton which he had stuck into his ears and clapped Remus on his back. Poor Remus quickly recovered from the disturbance, shooting an annoyed look at Sirius. "Hi Prongs, Siri, anything happened while I was in the library? Perhaps by now, you should have deduced why I would rather study than spend an hour lingering around Sirius," he scowled defiantly.

"Did you by any chance mean Lady Sirella, the heiress-to-be of the House of Black? However, I do know that she does have a voice similar to fingernails scratching a chalkboard," James tried to put on a straight face while he pretended to gaze at Sirius with a look of concentration, as if to study him. Whilst both James and Remus were laughing at him, Sirius had chose to devour his mug of hot chocolate in front of the fireplace. He licked his lips which were covered with froth from the drink. "Moony, wouldn't you like to hear what happened to dear Prongs just a moment ago in the common room?" he said with blackmail clearly spelt on his face.

Remus' werewolf sense of hearing was so sharp that he turned to face Sirius immediately. After Sirius finished telling his tale of James' short encounter with Lily, Remus tried to bite his cheeks to keep from laughing but had failed miserably instead. "Well, it could have been worse," commented Remus whose cheeks were pink from laughing too much. "She looked quite pretty today," said James with a faraway look in his hazel eyes. His two best friends just rolled their eyes knowingly, it was quite obvious that James had a crush on Lily but he tried hard to hide it. In order to conceal his feelings, he acted as if he wanted to date her just because she was the only girl who resisted his charm the most. Moreover, it was a good excuse to play pranks, for he did most of it to impress her.

"Now, what say we go back to the common room to do some homework and pay Wormtail a visit on the way? Poppy said that the poor fellow still needs to stay there for another week," suggested Remus once they had polished off their cocoa and cookies. James shrugged his shoulders nodded his head while gulping down his mug of lukewarm cocoa.

"Ahem. Moony. Firstly, Prongsie and I don't do our homework, we just copy it off you most of the time, which would be fine. Secondly, Wormtail actually broke his arm and leg flying on a broom and he has awful infections on his limbs now. Seriously, I wouldn't want to catch any of that disgusting green pox from him," Sirius shuddered at the thought of his skin with an awful green rash resembling brussel sprouts on it.

"Well, fine then. The least we could do is pass him a sugar quill or some sweets. Oh right. Siri, you can't copy my Charms essay today because of your stupendously awful shriek which interrupted me while I was writing it," Remus gave Sirius a smug smile, looking pleased with himself. Sirius' jaws dropped wide-open, his finger pointing at Remus while his eyes sent voiceless complaints to James. "Nice one, Moony. And good luck to you, Padfoot," said James while patting Sirius' head. Sirius was going to have a long night cuddling up with his Charms books to write an essay on 'How To Improve Security Charms'.

* * *

A/N: Hi there folks! Three Days Grace is not working out that well for me because of Deathly Hallows. Well, do leave me a review, please. I take them all, criticism, blabbering (I, myself blabber in my reviews :P), flames and of course, compliments. :D Grammar mistake or a typo? Tell me.  
Thanks :) 


	2. Miss' and 'Mister'

Chapter 2: 'Miss' and 'Mister'

A/N: A shout-out to shana.rose., thanks for reading : )

Lily Evans had burst into her dorm, causing squeals and shrieks to erupt in the once serene atmosphere. Her cheeks were flushed from rushing into the dorm at a record-breaking speed, not to mention her short yet embarrassing bump-in with James Potter. The grin plastered on her red face was going to make her explode any moment if she had to keep it all the details from her best friends any longer. "Lily, count to ten, then if you still can't let it out, go take a shower or something," said Alice who was clearly experienced in having flushed-faced best friends pour their hearts out to her. Without saying another word, Lily ran into the bathroom with her pyjamas. Dorcas and Emmeline who were once reading a startling article on the gruesome breakup between the Head Boy and Head Girl had spilled their box of Cauldron Cakes on the floor and were now cleaning it up. "Marly, read out the article on the 'Head Breakup', will you?" asked Dorcas.

"Sure. Anything to do while we wait for Lily to cool down," Marlene replied before taking a deep breath. "The Head Breakup by Rita Skeeter. Just yesterday, startling rumours of the breakup between our Head Boy, Francis Dermont and Head Girl, Candice Danes were spread around Hogwarts. This rumour was quickly and efficiently picked up by reporter Rita Skeeter and now the veil of confusion behind their breakup shall be lifted in this month's Hogwarts Monthly. Francis and Candice were caught having a private argument in the prefect's bathroom yesterday at approximately quarter past three when they were expected to be attending their Herbology class. The former couple had a feisty exchange in the bathroom. A fellow prefect, who will remain unnamed due to confidential reasons, had overheard that the couple had separated due to the betrothal of Candice to an anonymous Durmstrang student. Hopefully, Hogwart's Head Couple will be able to mend their relationship as soon as possible. We have no more news on the couple at the moment, but we shall be keeping you posted in our new column, titled 'Breakup by Betrothal'," Marlene let out a loud gasp as soon as she had finished reading the article.

"As shocking as article sounded, all along I had thought that those two had a flaw in their relationship," commented Mary in a calm manner. "But who in the world has betrothal nowadays, for goodness' sake?" shouted Lily in exasperation as she trudged out of the bathroom clothed in her pyjamas and very pink in the face. She had watched many movies which had depressing betrothals in them and she was clearly unhappy for the dear couple. Her emotions were strong and she was one of those people who believed in true love, or that love conquers all. "That Skeeter girl should stop writing about this nonsense too," she added before pouncing onto her bed.

"Never mind her and the Head Breakup, we want to know what happened to you just now!" squealed Dorcas while clutching her pillow tightly. As Lily slowly told them about her evening date, the other girls listened to her intently. "And I kissed him on the cheek before bumping into Potter and rushing up here. Finito," said Lily to end her account.

Alice was the first one to point out Lily's mistakes during her date, "Well, Lily. First things first, you should never ever move first. Basics of the first date, number one, don't be the first one to kiss, especially if you are the girl. Number two, don't be distracted by other things on your date..."

"And three, don't let the guy kiss you unless he is Paul McCartney," interrupted Mary in a motherly tone to mimic Alice. The girls burst out laughing at her, Alice had a grin on her face as she rolled her eyes at Mary.

"But, first dates aren't everything. You see, love is a journey. I don't want things to be perfect all the time, the curves and bends we go through in everyday life, they help us out along the way. And, there is no reason why love should have rules. To fall in love is simply breaking one of the rules already," Lily declared aloud. Her way of looking at the world was unlike the other girls, she loved to fantasize so much that she could float into the sky with her dreams. Thankfully, her friends often looked out for her and pulled her back to Earth once her head had went up too high into the clouds.

"That is true, in a philosophical way," agreed Dorcas who was another fellow daydreamer. "In life, not all is romantic red roses and white chocolate hearts, my dears," Emmeline sighed. Marlene's dark sapphire eyes showed that she was in deep thought until she snapped back into reality after a while, "Hold on a bit, did you mention that you bumped into Potter on your way up here, right after you had kissed Matthew on the cheek?" she questioned Lily eagerly. "Yes, that is a fact," answered Lily.

Before anyone could ask why, Marlene had retrieved a pack of cards from her trunk. It looked like a deck of fairly old playing cards but somewhat similar to Tarot cards used during fortune-telling sessions. "What is that?" asked Mary as her eyes focused upon the cards.

"A deck of Romanian fortune-telling cards, created by the Green Elves and believed to work for centuries. There is a setback on these cards though, they only show one sign for an event in the future and that's all, so don't expect too much from them," Marlene then explained the simple process of using the fortune-telling cards to the girls and they simply looked at the cards, trying to figure what symbols were on the cards.

"As I shuffle these cards, please pick a card. You have to be fast because the belief is that life is like a moving carousel to the Elves so you must take chances at some times in life," Marlene continued shuffling the cards quickly yet skillfully and Lily randomly snatched a card out of the deck. Marlene removed the first card of the deck and flipped it, revealing the sign of a doe. "Anything familiar about this animal?" she queried.

"I do like does and my Patonus is a doe too," Lily answered, blinking her eyes in confusion. Marlene turned over the next card, unveiling a tree. "Do you have any favourite trees?" Marlene asked Lily with a puzzled look on her face. "Not really, but I do like apple pie a lot and apples too, does that consider me an apple tree lover?" Lily inquired. "Commonly, no. But in the world of the Elves, anything you think about can be considered the clue to finding out what lies within the card for you," Marlene voiced out, all the girls were baffled by the cards, especially the card with the tree on it.

"Oh, well. I was just following some random rhyme which I recall my grandmother telling me, 'The first you kiss, but the second you miss'. Whatever that meant," Marlene shrugged her shoulders. "Wasn't she the grandmother who always spoke in rhymes?" Emmeline finally remarked. "Yes, that's her, from my mother's side," nodded Marlene.

"Okay, let's put aside the fortune telling for a moment because it is confusing me, that rhyme is something worth considering though. How cool to be able to say something which rhymes so nicely, 'the first you kiss, but the second you miss'!" exclaimed Mary admiringly. "It does have a nice ring to it, but why would you 'miss' the second? 'Miss' as in 'I missed the bus' or 'I miss my mum'?" Alice had her chin balanced on a fluffy, white pillow. The whole dorm was filled with questions on the queer fortune telling session as well as the rhyme made by Marlene's grandmother.

In Lily's mind, her inner voice was screeching at her brain for answers, but it was working quite slowly due to her blank mind. The discussion of her fortune telling session and the funny rhyme had made her reconsider going out with Matthew. What if she had only one more chance to mess up to meet that 'second' person who she might miss? It sounded logical if she kept looking for that perfect someone to mess up her second chance on. She snapped her fingers once she concluded on doing that, telling the girls of her plan, which she thought was, pretty perfect.

* * *

In the boys' dorm, James Potter squirmed in his bed, trying hard to sleep while Sirius did his victory dance. Sirius had finally finished his Charms essay, but he certainly was not going to sleep without having a bit of a celebration to commemorate his first success at finishing a Charms essay without any assistance. James tried to drown out Sirius' voice by stuffing his face into his pillow but eventually, he had to come up for air before he suffocated himself with carbon dioxide and the stench of a sock which was hidden behind his pillow. His face was rosy due to the lack of oxygen once he had turned over. After putting on his spectacles, a grimace formed on his face and he put all his irritation into thrusting the old, foul-smelling sock onto Sirius' bed. "Sirius, shut up and go to sleep," groaned Remus who had purple eye-bags under his eyes. Apparently James was not the only one who had problems sleeping while Sirius was awake. "I should have stowed away the Honeyduke sweets," grumbled James while mentally reminding himself to do so in the future.

"I... have never ever finished an essay-yyeay-eay..." sang Sirius loudly and out of tune but he still had a proud aura around himself. His singing skills had not improved since the last time he had sang after accidently getting drunk drinking spiked punch at a party. "When in the world will you throw in the towel, Mister Padfoot?" James asked while throwing a rubber ball at him. As Sirius started to trip, Remus secretly aimed his wand towards Sirius and whispered "Silencio". Remus and James exchanged sleepy smiles before dozing off in peace and quiet.

* * *

"Now, is my plan perfect or what?" Lily had a satisfied smile on her face after she had finished telling her plan to her friends. "I don't quite agree with you, but it is going to be a tough challenge for you and I'll support you all the same," Mary ran over to Lily and gave her a short sisterly hug before scurrying back to her bed.

The rest of the girls had their heads inclined in agreement. "Go Lily!" Dorcas attempted to cheer loudly but had failed to do so and ended up letting out a soft yawn instead. "It's time to go to Dreamland now," Dorcas opened her mouth wide open wearily.

"Thanks, all of you, for agreeing to my plan. Hopefully it will work and then I'll be able to find out more about that tree," Lily whispered as the girls turned off their bedside lamps. As thoughts started to fill her mind, one by one her friends had slowly dozed off into slumber. Lily mused on the Muggle idea of counting sheep to go to sleep. As she imagined her twenty-third sheep with weird limbs and rose-coloured sunglasses on its eyes, she slowly fell asleep with triumphant grin on her face, determined to find out who would be her second and only person to miss.

* * *

A/N: Reviews are appreciated. Sorry for the short chapter, I will make it up soon. James' part is super short in this chapter because it's at night and Lily is chatting to the other girls while he is trying to get some sleep. My school exams are over now and there is a week long holiday break after this so, expect another chapter coming at you soon! Questions? Errors? Tell me : ) Thank you. 


	3. Awaken

Chapter 3: Awaken  


"Rise and shine, Lily," two voices announced loudly, the sound waves aimed directly at a pair of ears. Lily, who had fell asleep with a grin on her face eventually woke up with a deep frown on her forehead. Her eyelids were still stuck together yet bright lights seeped into them, tormenting her of not being a morning person. She let out an agitated groan after injuring her toe by kicking her on of her bed's legs and walking straight into a wall twice, resulting in a bruise each on her forehead and cheek. After rubbing her eyes in frustration, she opened them as wide as she could and strutted into the bathroom, slamming the door after her once she found out that it was seven o' clock.

"The least you could have done was warn me about the obstacles in my path, you bums," The words seethed out of Lily's mouth before she covered her head in her arms and shut her eyes.

"Bum is not the correct word to use, seeing as you are the biggest bum among us," said Mary while taking a bite out of her buttered toast, but Lily was already asleep on the table.

"We should not have woke her up. The both of you should have known better," Emmeline commented.

"We are doing her a favour. If she isn't up with us now, she'll be scowling at us later for not waking her up, resulting her to miss her first class. And you know Lily, just look at her," Alice then threw a glance at her best friend, whose head was still buried within her arms on the table.

Lily's red hair had been tied simply in a messy ponytail with stray hairs sticking out of her head, causing her to look like a mad woman. "That is the classic 'Lily-in-the-morning' hair-do which as all of you know, will be fixed once Lily is awake. Let's also be thankful that the school robe is concealing her crumpled blouse," Dorcas pointed out, trying to think up more good points on Lily's appearance.

The other girls chortled and at the point where they could not keep it in anymore, they burst out laughing as usual. No matter how hard they tried to keep from laughing, either they would let it all out or at least just a tiny giggle. They did not mind when their stomach ached or when their cheeks were tickled pink after a dose of laughter, if there was a profession in laughing, no doubt they would be the first to sign up for the job.

"Youpunks, gimmesomefood," a mumble emitted from Lily, who still refused to lift up her head from the table. Her eyelids felt sore and heavy, but she soon managed to balance her head on her palms after several grunts. She then let out a yawn while stretching her arms wide open. Her signature pair of emerald-green eyes which were beautiful and glassy showed that she was finally awake.

Marlene passed Lily a toast smeared with assorted jams, blueberry, raspberry and strawberry. Lily polished off her toast with a cup of tea, she then wiped her mouth which had pink and purple jam stains on it. "So, when do you think I should tell Matthew?" she asked while sipping her tea.

"I say, wait till he has something to say to you before you go to him and throw in the towel," Mary said while scanning through the Daily Prophet for some interesting news. "Sounds reasonable enough," Emmeline voiced.

"Isn't that supposed to be unkind? She makes his hopes soar and then all of a sudden, she shoves him back down," wondered Dorcas out loud. "Personally, I think that you could meet up with him as you promised and tell him the news then," Alice suggested.

"It will not be counted as your second time because you are just meeting up with him, as a friend, to tell him that you are breaking it off," Marlene said cheerily. "I never would have thought that I would break up with someone right on my second meeting with that person. Come to think, that person was my first too," sighed Lily.

"Prongs, time to get our coffee fill," Sirius said in a sing-song voice. James Potter blinked his eyes furiously, grabbing blindly at his bedside table to reach for his spectacles. His fuzzy vision cleared up once he peered through them. "How in blazes do you manage to be so hyper at this time of the morning even after a victory dance routine last night?" he asked drowsily.

"It's seven so buzz off, Padfoot," Remus then tossed a pillow at Sirius, which landed perfectly on his head. "I knew the both of you really don't like to wake up, so I decided to be a great pal and bring up some breakfast in bed. Just wondered if the two of you would mind or not," Sirius answered while clutching the pillow his heart, pretending to be hurt.

"Whatever you say, just leave the room," James gave his best friend a long look. When the last trace of Sirius made its way out of the dorm's door, James plopped back into bed and fell asleep once again the moment his head touched the pillows.

"Good morning, ladies," a voice which was all too familiar greeted the girls. Sirius Black had made his way to the breakfast table and all too surprisingly to the girls, he was indeed alone. He flashed them a smile before placing himself next to Lily, who was still reading the Daily Prophet and therefore did not notice his presence. "So, Black, what brings you to the humble side of the Gryffindor table?" asked Alice while scooping cereal into her mouth.

"Nothing, really. It just seemed that today I was in the mood to have my breakfast early and my best besties did not want to join me," Sirius replied truthfully with a glum look on his face. "Evans, anything worth knowing in today's paper?" he then turned towards Lily.

"I'll say, your best pal, the idiotic and absolutely annoying James Potter isn't here and you are trying to get closer to us? What happened to the pills which you were taking?" she said as she put down the newspaper. Sirius gave her a knowing look and patted her back. "There were no more pills, James took them away from me and stowed them somewhere else. He said that it was not going to do any good for my brain, apparently," Sirius grinned.

"It's a wonder how you and him can be friends while he is the best friend of that person which you hate so much," Mary commented. "And they really could spare us the corny remarks," Marlene said before reaching out for a scone.

"Oh well, James is not really one which I can speak to for more than two sentences without screaming at. But I think it is better for me to take one step at a time to get to know the pompous Potter. Anyway, with Sirius and Remus as my friends, I think I could hold the insulting at a safer level," Lily said while trying to dodge the bread crumbs which Sirius had charmed to sprinkle onto her hair, plates and plates of crumbs. "Evans, you called James 'pompous Potter'," Sirius warned her in a friendly tone as she shook the crumbs out of her hair.

A few months ago, Lily had formed a truce with Remus and Sirius, and their plan was to pester her when she insulted James. In exchange, her task was to make sure that they did not date or flirt too much with the wrong girls. Basically, they were keeping each other in check and being civil to each other. After the incident which involved hanging Severus Snape upside down and the revelation of his gray underpants, none of the girls had dared to question the alliance between Lily and Sirius and Remus, but it looked fine and they just acted as per normal. Fortunately, the loud quarrels between James and Lily had died down to a few moments of somewhat more logical bickering which were not too harsh, the girls called it the duo's battle of wits. Nowadays, both of them would use non-verbal spells, a task which proved to be difficult but it was unexpected and interesting to watch. Just a week ago, Lily had managed to make grass grow amidst James' jet-black hair. He had in return, turned the roots of her red hair an incredible shade of bright blue. The girls had hoped for the best and as long as the duo did not go overboard, they were quite satisfied with the way they acted towards each other.

"You need not worry about me, with your choice of dates, I have a feeling that some brightly-coloured hair dye will be knocking on your door in no time," Lily then flashed him an annoyed look.

* * *

"Breakfast is served," Sirius announced while tinkling a bell. He had prepared a rather large breakfast for his best friends with food and drinks ranging from orange juice, coffee, cereal, eggs, pancakes, bagels and apples. The silver trays he balanced on his hands were piled with food, his gray eyes focusing on them to make sure that they did not topple over. "Prongs, Moony, would both of you mind helping out a little?" he pleaded. 

James quickly seized a tray from Sirius' right hand and set it on his bedside table. He gazed at the startling amount of food on the tray, quickly reminding himself that Sirius had an appetite exactly like a hungry dog and therefore had taken the liberty to share the joy of eating with them. All of a sudden, Remus let out a whoop of delight. "You didn't decaffeinate the coffee, didn't you?" James questioned Sirius who had decided to secretly swap Remus' coffee with a cup of caffeine-free fruit tea while Remus was still jumping on his bed, challenging the springs in his mattress to the extreme.

"Smart move," James grinned. After Remus had calmed down, Sirius smothered a scone with cream and jam generously before passing it blindly to James who thanked him. Remus rushed into the toilet and changed rather hastily before having his breakfast. "Thanks, Padfoot," Remus said to Sirius before ushering James to change and coaxing both of them to attend their Charms lesson instead of lying down on their beds.

"Go away, Moony. Our O.W.L.s are over, what else is there to study?" Sirius groaned. Remus just gave him a look of mock stern before pushing him and James out of their dorm.

* * *

"Lily, have you decided on what to wear to the break up?" whispered Mary as she flicked her wand. "Why in the world would Lily be thinking of what to wear while she is clearly trying to perfect this charm?" asked Dorcas who was practicing the wand movements Professor Flitwick had taught them. 

Lily just gave them a smile before turning back to refining her charm. Secretly, she was hoping that she would be the first in class to perform the charm flawlessly without ending up with disastrous results. "Keep on trying, Mr. Potter. You are nearly there," Professor Flitwick commented. James' object was already half-frozen, but thankfully the ice had started to melt once the professor left his table.

"Fresconisceles!" Lily pronounced her words sharply as she waved her wand full with concentration. Whilst silver ice spurted from her wand and wound itself around the carnation in front of her slowly, the thin cage of ice looked fragile at first. Even so, after a few moments the pale pink carnation was encased within solid ice, yet it was not a chunk of ice. Instead, it looked so elegant and delicate, for a layer of ice just outlined the flower somewhat nicely.

"Well done, Miss Evans. You are once again the first in class to perform this charm. It certainly looks like your frozen carnation has been rather beautifully done. 50 points to Gryffindor," Professor Flitwick said gleefully as he stopped at her table to admire her frozen carnation. A smile slowly crept onto Lily's face after she was complimented. If only she could make all the correct decisions for her life so that it would stay as perfect as the carnation would, preserved by the cold ice.

* * *

A/N: Hi! This is the update which I promised. (Although it is already the last day of my holidays. -gloom-) And hopefully, there is some feedback. Most probably on the plot and the punctuation, I think. XD Thanks to shana.rose, Sirius Blacks Gurl and the few others (:-S my email puts these 'Story Alert' mails in Bulk Mail) for putting me on Story Alert! 

Remember, a review won't hurt me ;P


	4. Daydreaming

Chapter 4: Daydreaming

Lily had never been one to worry on love issues. _I don't love him! Maybe I do like him, but definitely nothing more than that. Matthew is definitely cute. I don't even know him that well and yet the possibility of him liking me sure is arousing. _A faint blush coloured her cheeks. _No one has ever liked me that way and it certainly wouldn't hurt to make way for him, wouldn't it? _Lily thought silently while inspecting her wand. _James Potter likes you. _Lily shook her head, mentally screaming at that thought which had wandered into her mind. _Stop. Calm down. It was just a thought. You have to be civil, or at least ACT civil, remember? _Lily quickly recollected her self when a voice interrupted her while she was still in deep thought.

"Hi, Lily. You did a great job performing the Freezing Charm there, and on your second time too," James Potter had officially burst her thought bubble with such a simple and short sentence, a sweet compliment.

"Uh... I practised a lot before I did it," Lily said, still remaining a little lost in her own world of thoughts.

"Good for you," James gave her a smile and went back to his table. His raven hair slowly dissolved into the crowd of their class in a corner where other students were looking at the disastrous result of Francine Dent's Freezing Charm. Her blue flower had turned into a shade of contrasting, fire red. It hissed when Professor Flitwick poked it with his wand, with a few complicated wand movements, he removed the Charm and the flower's petals started to wither slowly and horribly. As time passed, the petals turned brown, then finally a pile of dark, black ash.

* * *

_Politeness first, act respectful towards Evans. Be courteous. _He had finally spoken to Lily Evans long after the Snape Incident, complimenting her of her Freezing Charm. Thankfully, she had responded quite well, without shouting at him or throwing imaginary daggers at him with her piercing green eyes. It seemed that things would be fine if they kept being civil towards each other. Later on, James had a sunken feeling in his stomach after watching the flower wither slowly. It was as if his large appetite had been attacked at and bit by bit, it rotted away in horror. He felt as if things were not right. Fortunately, he stopped it from spreading to his mind by thinking of other things.

"Prongsie, are you currently present in your body? Or have you flown out of it in your astral form, leaving behind this dope of a body?" Sirius Black waved his hand in front of James' blank eyes continuously.

James' hazel eyes were blurry and he was still thinking away in his mind. After Sirius failed to bring James back to reality, Remus flexed his fingers and grinned at Sirius with an 'I am better at this than you' look on his face. He snapped his fingers repeatedly in front of James' face, making him look as if he was snapping rhythmically to some music which no one could hear but him. Nonetheless, Remus was not bothered by the stares which swayed towards him, he was concentrating very hard into bringing James back into reality so that he could win his bet with Sirius. He finally settled on a Tickle Charm, aiming it perfectly at James' ribs.

James responded immediately and Sirius dug into his robes' pocket to pay Remus. "You didn't specify that we could use magic!" Sirius glared at Remus with his gray eyes.

"You didn't say that we couldn't," Remus grinned at Sirius and kept his money safely in his pocket.

* * *

"You were great in class. Nothing new there," Marlene whispered Lily a compliment. She was in the library with Lily while the others were at Divination class. The two of them had dropped Divination a year ago when Professor Malzerta predicted that they would break their crystal balls. Lily had broke hers' on purpose in class, followed by Marlene's rolling off her table. Both of them had decided that Arithmancy was more logical than predicting the downfall of crystal balls. This had resulted in two loud crashes on the floor and the poor Professor to faint on the spot. 

"Oh..." Lily's voice trailed away once again as she flew back into her sea of thoughts.

"Lily, snap out of it," Marlene clapped her hands loudly in front of Lily, managing to catch Lily and a few other people's attention, including the librarian's attention too, unfortunately.

The two of them were then chased out of the library, "and don't come back until you learn not to make loud noises in the library!" the librarian's stern voice called out to them.

"She has a good sense of hearing for an old coot who does nothing other than being cooped up in the library with dust and books as old as her," muttered Marlene.

Lily did not comment but let out a chuckle instead. "Oh well, since our O.W.L.s are over, we shan't go in there that often."

"Since when were you one to say that you won't set foot in the library?" Marlene asked in awe.

"Sometimes, all we need is some sunshine, Marlene," Lily had a twinkle in her green eyes as she skipped along the empty hallway and pirouetted perfectly. She paused as they walked across the bridge to gaze out of a window. The lake's waters were blue with light glinting off its surface. No one was under the shady tree where she and Matthew had sat on their first date. Without thinking, Lily grabbed Marlene's hand and led her to that particular spot.

"Lily Evans, I'm certainly not an Olympic runner so please slow down," Marlene emphasised on the word 'slow' yet Lily just kept on smiling until they reached the spot.

Instead of stopping on her feet, Lily broke her sprint by rolling onto the ground. The grass carpeted her fall and she lied on the soft grass under the tree silently, observing the clouds while her arms cushioned her head. Her friend simply plopped down beside her on the grass.

"Hey, Marlene. Do you think I should pursue him?" Lily questioned out of the blue.

"Which 'him'? Is it Matthew?" There was a moment of silence before Lily answered Marlene.

"Actually no, I meant that person which I'm supposed to 'miss', the person in Emmy's gran's saying," The white clouds in the sky formed a scene which looked rather similar to the Hogwarts' grounds. Lily gazed at the castle-like cloud, picturing it in her mind to be full of mysterious rooms and interesting adventures. She slowly drifted back into her daydreams just like the clouds.

"Well, you don't know who he is but it does sound like the perfect thing to do, if you truly believe in what she said," Marlene said, catching her attention.

"I am not so superstitious yet there is something about it which makes me want to think that someone truly misses me secretly. It sounds special, you know, to have one who loves you secretly yet doesn't want to let it out, and instead waits patiently while you search for it," Lily could not put her heart to letting go of the saying, she simply was not ready allow that person to just wait for her in the shadows yet even if the saying was not true.

* * *

"Do you see anything in that blooming crystal ball of yours? Cos' the only thing I can see is a blooming mist of nothingness!" Sirius scowled at his crystal ball. 

"Mr. Black. I heard you mention 'blooming' a few times?" Professor Malzerta said as she paused at their table. Her long neck snapped towards Sirius and her queer, indigo eyes stared at the frustrated teenager.

"I saw a blooming thing alright!" snapped Sirius irritatedly for he was fed up with his crystal ball.

"Err... a blooming flower, that is," he quickly recovered from his outburst and replied the shocked Professor with one of his famous smiles instead. Luckily, after a wan smile on his handsome face, the Professor just raised her eyebrow in suspicion before leaving him alone.

"Keep your cool, Padfoot. At least we don't need to look up rotten tea leaves in our textbook," James was also searching for a sign in the murky mist of his crystal ball. His eyes scrutinised the fine print in his Divination book, looking up 'a dot' in the index with an aura of sarcasm in his actions.

"Next year, I insist that we drop this subject and take up something more decent, like Care of Magical Creatures or something," Remus whispered to the two.

James gave him a puzzled look. "You must be really desperate to drop, eh?" Remus did not answer him but nodded his head.

"I think that we should visit old Peter after this dratted class. Being in the Hospital Wing should be better than being here," Sirius suggested.

* * *

"Marly, look at that cloud," Lily told her friend once she spotted a small cloud resembling a ballerina dressed in a wisp of white cotton dancing gracefully across the bright blue stage without a care. _Maybe life is like a dance, it never stops until the music does. And even when the music stops playing, a dancer could use a song from memory to continue the dance, enjoying every moment of the body's smooth movements. From prancing with a spring in every step to waltzing across the dance floor with such grace and poise, a dancer would be able to expressing feelings in the dance. She would learn how to pick up herself after she falls, remembering techniques to prevent them and learning new moves to complement her life-long dance._

Marlene's eyes followed the special cloud as it floated in the sky. "So what were you thinking of after looking at that grasshopper which was drowning in water?"

* * *

A/N: Hi peeps! Sorry for the long delay of this chapter. I was having my monthly tests and I am working on an original story for my friend's sister. Well, hopefully this chapter is okay. I have a feeling that there is too much dialogue though. :-S 

To my awesome reviewers, thanks for the suggestions and comments!

shana.rose - :-) thanks for supporting me since chapter 1

sovereignty'd - thank you for suggesting the new paragraph for every dialogue thing. everything looks much neater now :-)

Do be my guest and drop me a review! Thank you.


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